WEEDSPORT, NY - By Tom Skibinski, DIRTcar Racing Northeast PR Director - Southern Tier standout Lin Hough, popular Pennsylvania pilot Ralph Quarterson and north country favorite Gary Reddick will be inducted into the Northeast Modified Hall of Fame on Memorial Day Weekend ‘10. These three driving greats add their names to a stellar list of Modified legends that was started in 1992 when the Hall of Fame was officially christened on the Cayuga County Fairgrounds in Weedsport, New York.
The 2010 Induction Ceremonies will take place Sunday, May 30 at 2 p.m. in the NE Hall of Fame & Classic Car Museum. The evening race program at Cayuga County Fair Speedway will be highlighted by the Hall of Fame 100, the third scheduled points event in the Super DIRTcar Series for Big-Block Modifieds.
Launching his career in the Big-Block ranks in 1977, Hough became a household name among the Small-Block racing fraternity in the mid-1980s steering his familiar red #117 Modified mounts. Scoring 60 DIRTcar victories from 1983-88, the Bath, N.Y. speedster also racked up a half-dozen track point titles at Dundee Raceway Park and Woodhull Raceway, capturing the coveted overall Mr. DIRT 320-Modified Championship in 1985. Along with his wife Cindy, Hough took over ownership of Dundee in 1995, renaming the Yates County oval to Black Rock Speedway while providing a complete facility upgrade that included new grandstand bleachers, VIP Tower suites, lighting and lap counter as the track was lengthened to a 4/10-miler.
Born on Canadian soil in Ottawa, Reddick relocated to the states in 1955 and soonafter emerged as a rising star throughout the stock car ranks contending on both dirt and asphalt surfaces. Charging from last to second in his first-ever qualifying race in 1960, checkered flags would become the norm in main events for the #V3 Modified machines on both sides of the border for two decades. Can-Am Motorsports Park’s inaugural champion in 1975, he also garnered a pair of point crowns each at Evans Mills and Watertown speedways in New York adding another at Kingston (Ont.) Speedway, while scoring feature wins in Canada at Brockville, Cornwall and Ottawa, and at DIRTcar charter member Rolling Wheels Raceway Park, Brewerton and Fulton speedway in the Empire State.
A familiar figure in victory lane piloting his #66 entries in both open-wheel Modified and open-cockpit sprint cars, Quarterson piled up numerous track titles and feature wins during the late 1960s and early 70s. When the new millennium arrived, the recently honored Lernerville Speedway Hall of Fame racer was still recognized as the winningest Modified driver at Mercer (Pa.) Raceway Park, also racking up Keystone State victories at Tri-City, Butler and Motordrome speedways, along with Sharon and Expo in Ohio. Quarterson took advantage of his guaranteed starter status earned at Mercer to make his only Super DIRT Week start, finishing 26th in the 1974 ‘Schaefer 100’ finale on the famed Syracuse Mile.
Also receiving recognition during the induction ceremonies will be very active individuals Brian Mulligan, Jeff Brownell and Andrew Phillips.
Mulligan enters the Hall of Fame earning the Leonard J. Sammons, Jr. Award for Outstanding Contributions to Auto Racing. For the past 43 years Cornwall, Ontario resident Mulligan has served as Public Address Announcer for a number of Canadian tracks, and emerged as a motorsports promotions and marketing specialist in the north country during the last quarter-century. Officially moving into the position of DIRTcar Pro Stock Series Competition Director at the end of the 2007 season, he had previously provided operational assistance for Pro Stock Series events staged in the Eastern U.S. and Canada. Mulligan has been a familiar voice heard during Super DIRT Week for the past three decades, calling events at both the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse and Rolling Wheels Raceway Park in nearby Elbridge.
The first involvement in motorsports by Central New York car owner Brownell was in the Late Model ranks with the late Jeff Kappesser beginning in 1973. ‘Kappy’ earned full-fender crowns at founding DIRTcar tracks Canandaigua (1974), Cayuga County (1975) and Rolling Wheels (1977) prior to making his Big-Block debut in 1978, eventually sharing the 1982 Florida DIRTcar Nationals title. Recognized nationally in the oil business and becoming familiar closer to home through his Junell Corp. and Advanced Lubrication Specialties monikers, Brownell joined forces with fellow Waterloo, New Yorker Steve Paine, who went on to win the overall Mr. DIRTcar Big-Block Championship as the new millennium arrived. Super DIRTcar Series standout Matt Sheppard (#9s) and teammate Jeff Brownell Jr. (#29) brought further accolades for his XTreme Lubricants squad in 2009, with ‘Super Matt’ clinching Canandaigua and Brewerton season titles while winning the prestigious Rite Aid 200 at Syracuse, and his son claiming the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park points championship.
Phillips will receive the Mechanic of the Year Award after serving as crew chief for Brett Hearn as the New Jersey ace captured his 2nd Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Championship in the past three years. Attending weekly shows at the now defunct Flemington (NJ) Fair Speedway “since I could walk,” with family Drew also worked alongside his “uncle” Jerry Brophy Jr. at Flemington en route to the 1991 Small-Block title and Bud Christmann when he won the Super DIRT Week 358-Modified Championship at Syracuse in 2001. Phillips joined Hearn full-time right out of high school in 2002 and last season marked his fourth year heading race day operations for DIRTcar Northeast’s winningest Modified driver.
Co-recipients of the ninth annual Gater Racing Photo News "Outstanding Woman in Racing" award are track officials and public relations personnel Tana Robinson from Western New York, Pennsylvanian Judy Snyderman and Buffy Swanson.
Granddaughter to former owners of the old Fort Covington (NY) Speedway in its formative years Robinson never strayed from her roots as she and her family have been trackside fixtures further west for the past three decades. Returning to the north country during childhood, as a teenager she sandwiched weekend visits to Can-Am Speedway in LaFargeville between trips to current hometown oval Ransomville Speedway, where she first began penning Friday night race reports in 1989. Today, continuing to supply releases from the ‘Big R’ as its PR Director, she also wrote for Gater Racing Photo News and provided result stories to DIRT Trackin’ Magazine in the 1990s. Joining the speedway staff full-time in 2000, with sons Dan (chief starter), Mike (head scorer) and Jeff (handicapper) following her lead, Robinson also carries out accounting duties in the Weedsport, N.Y.-based DIRTcar Northeast office where she has been employed since 2007.
Snyderman has been involved in several aspects of Modified racing for more than 20 years. Initially entering the sport managing her husband Hugh’s photo stand at Bridgeport (N.J.) Speedway, she also became an accomplished racing photographer as time passed. Never one to turn down an interesting opportunity, when the chance came to get involved with the operations of the speedway, she became an Assistant Starter and Corner Flagger, undertaking a variety of other positions during her trackside tenure. Popular and well-liked, Judy has also worked in the organization and presentation of several mall shows and special racing programs in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey region, while her husband is currently Bridgeport Speedway’s Race Director.
Earning a paid position managing layout with Lenny Sammons’ Area Auto Racing News in 1979, Swanson quickly emerged as a successful staff writer for the popular Northeast motorsports publication. She gained instant notoriety providing the only presence of dirt car racing in Speedway Scene, authoring her column ‘Down’N Dirty’ in the New England-based tradepaper from 1982 to 1990. Eventually serving as a contributing editor for such nationally acclaimed magazines as Stock Car Racing, Circle Track, Trackside and Dick Berggren’s Speedway Illustrated, in 1998 the New Jersey native was named by the Grosso Family ownership as Public Relations Director at New Egypt Speedway, where she maintained her prominent post for nine years.
DIRTcar Racing Northeast main office is located in Weedsport, New York on the Cayuga County Fairgrounds, home of DIRTcar All-Star Weekend in July. DIRTcar Northeast’s crown jewel event ---Super DIRT Week at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse runs annually in October featuring Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Championship Series events for Big-Block Modified, 358-Modified, Sportsman and Pro Stock divisions. Ticket and schedule information is available by contacting the Weedsport office (315/834-6606) during the day or logging into www.allstar100weekend.com and www.superdirtweekonline.com anytime.
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